


Torn

by Lilian_Silver



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Eventual Hermione Granger/Draco Malfoy, F/M, Good Draco Malfoy, Harry Potter Epilogue What Epilogue | EWE, Hermione Granger/Draco Malfoy Fluff, Hogwarts Chamber of Secrets, Not Canon Compliant - Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-31
Updated: 2020-11-27
Packaged: 2021-03-03 07:01:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 18,171
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24466885
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lilian_Silver/pseuds/Lilian_Silver
Summary: Draco Malfoy has been listening at closed doors, and he knows that Hermione Granger’s life is in danger. How can he possibly keep her safe, while maintaining his pureblood persona?
Relationships: Hermione Granger/Draco Malfoy
Comments: 133
Kudos: 222





	1. Nott and Plot

**Author's Note:**

> This story is based on a headcannon posted on tumblr by a now inactive account https://li-izumi.tumblr.com/post/103169144623/indie-band-no-but-do-you-want-to-hear-my-theory 
> 
> It was reposted in the Strictly Dramione facebook group, and I instantly wanted to dive into this universe and explore what happens for Draco after he tears a page about the basilisk out of a book at Flourish and Blotts.

Lucius Malfoy sat behind an ornate, ebony desk in his study, watching as the flames in his Floo came to life. A man stepped out, seemingly unaffected by the turbulence of Floo travel, maintaining his dignity and decorum above all else, just as he should.

“Nott. Right on time,” Lucius said, standing to greet his guest.

“Good evening, Lucius,” said Nott, and then stood awaiting further instruction.

“May I offer you a drink, or would you prefer to get right to business so that you may be on your way back to your son’s early birthday festivities?”

Nott heaved a sigh that Lucius could not discern the impetus of.

“I’d be grateful for the drink. Some of my wife's family are in town. Americans. I can’t say I care terribly for their company,” he said, striding over to the armchair adjacent to the desk.

Lucius nodded, crossing over to his small reserve of bottles in crystal decanters. He didn’t trust the Elves with these particular elixirs.

Pouring a neat glass for his fellow “former” Death Eater, he turned and handed it to the man swiftly before returning to his desk.

Nott took a sip, eyebrows raising in delighted surprise and said, “What’s the occasion?”

Lucius positioned both elbows on the desk and clasped his hands together, omitting his forefingers, which he pressed to his lips as he pondered what to say next.

“I have a plan,” he said, and let that ring into the quiet corners of the room for a few moments before continuing. “A plan… to see him returned, if all goes well.”

Nott’s eyebrows lifted higher still, and he took another sip of his drink. After a beat, he said, “Lucius, if this is about my Time-Turner I assure you, the Ministry has a collection of far superior devices.”

Lucius smiled, looking down at the black leather-bound book in front of him. “It’s nothing to do with the Time-Turner, old friend, though I maintain that I am grateful you confided in me about the object. I thought it was _time_ I returned that favor,” he said, quirking a single brow on the word time.

Nott cocked his head, missing the pun entirely, and turning his attention to the book as well.

“I was reluctant to share it, but I will need your assistance in carrying out the plot, you see,” said Lucius. “Our master left this diary in my possession before he disappeared. He bade me only use it in an extreme circumstance.”

He held up the book, and Nott’s eyes widened with reverence as he gazed upon it, open mouthed.

“What is its significance?”

Lucius considered the item for a moment before speaking.

“I do not fully comprehend the function of it, however, I do know that it is a key.”

“A key. To open…?”

“The Chamber of Secrets,” said Lucius.

A slow, wide grin spread across Nott’s face. “How excellent,” he said. “But what do you need of me?”

Again, Lucius paused long to consider his words. “I need Theodore to act as spy from within the walls of Hogwarts. I need someone to ensure all is going to plan.”

Nott finished off his drink as his brow furrowed. “Theodore? Any reason to choose him in particular? I would think you have a perfectly good spy here in your home that would be willing to carry out any mission set forth by—”

“Between you and I, Nott,” Lucius interrupted, “I am not so sure of his willingness.”

Nott gazed back at Lucius, a look of utter befuddlement on his face.

“You see, I have come to believe that my son has rather a… soft spot for Mudbloods. One Mudblood, in particular.”

“The Granger girl,” Nott said, cottoning on suddenly.

Now it was Lucius’s turn to look befuddled. “How did you—”

“It so happens Theodore has mentioned such a… fascination, on Draco’s part.”

Lucius felt a wave of annoyance course through him, taking a deep breath to steady himself. Clearing his throat he said, “Yes, well, it’s good to know Theodore can be counted on for confidence. We will need his utmost discretion in the matter.”

Nott bowed his head in understanding. “I will ensure he understands the gravity of the situation. It will be his honor to aid in the extermination of Mudbloods from the school…”

Nott paused, suddenly deep in thought.

“You have some hesitation,” Lucius said, matter-of-factly.

“Can we be certain our children won’t be put in harm’s way? As I understand it, Slytherin’s Monster will only attack those of non Pure-blood status, but—”

“Theo will do well to avoid the corridors at night, and I will put Draco on his guard without divulging all of the details. He will undoubtedly share what he knows with his classmates; I have unfortunately raised a little braggart,” Lucius said, betraying a glimmer of real shame that didn’t go unmissed by Nott.

“Theo keeps to himself,” Nott said, nodding. “I agree that he’s the preferable choice.”

“Yes, well,” Lucius said, looking away in thought for a moment.

“Do you think the Basilisk is still alive down there?” Nott asked.

A small smile spread across Lucius’s face as he said, “Oh, yes. And I daresay it’s rather… ravenous.”

A clatter erupted from the hall outside the study, and both men immediately stood. Lucius crossed to the door, simultaneously drawing his wand and causing it to fly open. There stood his House-elf, Dobby, looking as wide-eyed and petrified as ever.

The Elf squeaked at the sight of Lucius, clenching his tiny fists and shaking, he said, “A thousand apologies, Sir! Dobby is being clumsy and dropping the tea trays.”

The Elf gestured to the silver and china that lined the floor of the hall.

“Clean it up,” Lucius snapped, “and then return here for your punishment.”

“Yes, Sir!”

Lucius returned to his study and shut the door. As soon as he did so, the small form of Draco Malfoy rose from the shadows, approaching the Elf with haste. “Dobby, I owe you. You have no idea how much.”

Dobby snapped his fingers, vanishing the tray and tea set he’d been planning to use as an excuse to eavesdrop before he’d found Draco outside the door.

“Dobby is happy to accept the blame if it means young Master will protect Harry Potter and his friends!”

Draco grimaced. “Like I said, I’m not fussed if Potter gets hurt.”

The Elf’s face fell. “Oh, yes, that’s right, Dobby knows, but um… if Master helps his friend—”

“I’m not helping anyone, Dobby. Not yet, anyway. I wouldn’t really know how to, except to keep everyone from coming to school entirely, and I’m sure that’s impossible.”

The Elf suddenly got a far-away look in his eyes. “Im-poss-ible…” he said in a dreamy voice as he stared into the darkness of the hall.

Draco waved his hand in front of the Elf’s face, bringing his attention back to their conversation.

“Oh, sorry, Sir! Dobby was just… thinking!”

“Well, you’d better go in there now. Father will be expecting you,” Draco said, motioning to the closed door.

Dobby started and gave a quick wave before Disapparating on the spot.

Draco turned on his heel and headed straight for the Malfoy library. He needed to know what in the bloody hell a Basilisk was, and how to defeat one.

After an hour of searching, however, he was incredibly irritated to discover that every book that may have contained information on such a creature had been removed from the library. Presumably, his father had brought them all into his study.

There was no way he could manage to get them without arousing suspicion. He thought momentarily of sending Dobby in again, but a pang of guilt swept over him at the mere thought. He couldn’t risk subjecting the Elf to another undeserved punishment.

He’d have to find some other way. There was, of course, the trip into Diagon Alley he’d be taking with his father the following morning. There was always the Hogwarts library, but he’d prefer to know before even stepping foot on the grounds. He felt sure he wouldn’t be able to sleep until he knew how to keep Hermione Granger safe.


	2. Year 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok everyone, here we go! Weekly updates (every Friday by midnight EST)

Draco’s preoccupation with Hermione Granger had started as nothing more than competition between classmates. He’d been extremely annoyed when she had beaten him repeatedly in all of their classes on tests and essays, earning him a fair amount of grief from his father. The fact that she was Muggle-born only added insult to injury.

He’d become fixated on matching her study schedule and endeavoring to do more studying than she did whenever possible. This led to a fair amount of observing and following her, always making sure to tuck himself away in a corner of the library where she would never notice him.

And she never did.

He would employ the same tactics this year, only instead of trying to copy her study habits, he would be making sure that whatever plan his father had would surely fail. At least, in terms of Hermione Granger.

The other Muggle-borns could die for all he cared. Then again, Hermione would probably care, so perhaps he should too.

It was this that was passing through his mind the moment that a fellow customer in Flourish and Blotts backed into him.

“Ack! Watch where you’re going!” Draco commanded as he spun around to face the person.

“Oh, I’m so sorry, dear!” a woman that was about his mother’s age said, as she put a hand on his shoulder to steady him. “I’m afraid I’m still a bit dazzled by the sights here,” she said, looking around.

Just as Draco was about to open his mouth and say something snotty, he froze, mouth agape.

She was dazzled by the sights… because she didn’t come here often. Draco had only seen her once before, at King’s Cross on the last day of first year, meeting her daughter to take her home.

“Granger,” he said, and then clapped his mouth shut.

Mrs. Granger gaped at him, “You know who I am then?” She laughed, gazing around as if wondering if this was real life.

“Now, I admit I knew our little girl was a bit famous, but I had no idea—” she cut herself off, gazing around the nearby shelf, then shouted, “Rupert!”

Draco gasped and stepped forward with the idea of fleeing, but Rupert Granger turned out to have been just around the other corner, and so they came face-to-face.

“What’s this?” Mr. Granger said, looking from Draco to his wife.

“This boy knows who _I_ am, who _WE_ are, Rupert! We’re famous!”

Rupert looked down at Draco and said, “Is that so?!” Then, he turned, and Draco turned paler than ever as Hermione Granger herself followed closely behind her father.

“Hermione, dear, is this one of your classmates?”

Their eyes locked, and it sent chills down his spine. So rare were their moments of eye contact.

Hermione cleared her throat and said, “Yes, father, this is Draco Malfoy.”

Both of her parent’s faces fell, and Draco felt a horrible sense of dread spread through his chest as he realized… he had a reputation.

“Are you the one who doesn’t like Harry Potter, then?” Mrs. Granger said, and he could hardly look at her, her expression had shifted so drastically.

Mr. Granger seemed to be scrutinizing him, and he dearly wished he had an invisibility cloak and could simply slip away in that moment.

But then…

“It’s really just the typical Hogwarts House rivalry, Mum.”

He stared at her, and she allowed him another brief moment of eye contact before refocusing her attention on her father. She was sticking up for him? He couldn’t imagine why.

Then her father said, “Yes, but… didn’t you also tell us about being teased by someone?” He turned to look at Draco. “I could have sworn it was a name like yours.”

“If I have, sir, I was only looking to shatter her confidence a bit. Your daughter has come top in every class we’ve taken, leaving me second,” Draco said, then turning to Hermione. “You must forgive me my…. jealousy.”

His eyes blazed into hers, and she seemed to return the gaze with equal intensity. If he wasn’t imagining it, she allowed a partial smile to cross her lips.

It acted on him like an incantation. He ripped his eyes from hers, and quickly addressed each of her parents in turn. “It was a pleasure to meet you both, I must be going.”

He sauntered past them, and his shoulder grazed Hermione’s ever so slightly as he did so. Another round of chills up his spine.

As soon as he was round the corner, he darted to the staircase and immersed himself in the dusty stacks. He should have come up here in the first place, rather than messing about in the aisles below. Then he wouldn’t have… he’d never…

Why had she stuck up for him?

Perhaps she didn’t want her parents to think they were sending her off to be tortured, and just sugar coated what had clearly been a bad experience the previous year.

He really couldn’t blame her.

He’d arrived at school ready to befriend Harry Potter. He’d always been told the Weasley’s were the enemy. He’d been rattled when his offer of friendship hadn’t worked.

He’d lashed out in anger. In jealousy.

He’d regretted it.

Especially when his little obsession with Hermione Granger’s study schedule shifted into a little obsession with Hermione Granger.

She was everything he was raised not to believe. Muggle-born, and yet incredible at magic. Graceful and poised, with the exception of her nest of hair. Brilliant beyond reason. And kind. Draco wasn’t taught to value kindness, but he found that he always did. It was why he treated the House-elves differently than his father did, often finding ways to stop them being punished, and involving them in games that were actually enjoyable to them.

It was one of the only ways he got to feel in control.

Hermione was kind to everyone.

Even dimwits like Neville Longbottom who don’t bloody deserve it.

He supposed he had been rather unfair to Longbottom, but with a name like that, wasn’t he asking for ridicule?

He shook himself out of this line of thinking, realizing that he was in the section he’d been trying to locate. Grabbing the first book in sight, he opened it up and began turning the pages with fury, wishing that he knew the spell for searching books. He made a mental note to ask Flitwick.

Then, suddenly, before him was the exact information he’d been looking for.

As for how to get it to her, that would be fairly simple, seeing as he knew her study habits so well.

From below, he heard the voice of Gilderoy Lockhart proclaiming that he’d just given Potter his entire collected works free of charge.

He tore out the page, not wanting his father to see the book, and tucked the paper into his robes. Looking down, he saw his father re-enter the shop. He quickly scanned the store and confirmed that the Granger’s were well out of earshot before he charged down the stairs, ready to put on a show for old Lucius.

**~ | * | ~**

Draco had had the foresight to get on good terms with the hospital wing matron, Madame Pomfrey.

He’d overheard her at the opening feast, talking about her favorite sweets from Honeydukes, and made it a point to bring them to her. She was always confused by the gesture, but accepted nonetheless.

So, when the day finally came when Hermione Granger was petrified in the hospital wing, it was fairly easy for him to convince the matron to allow him to visit her whenever Harry Potter and Ron Weasley were sure not to be there.

It was there that he discovered the paper crumpled in her hand, and recognized that giving it to her had indeed saved her life.

He put it back, hoping that dingbat Potter or the Weasel would notice it and get the message as well.

He went back every night to check, and sure enough, the page was eventually missing.

It wasn’t too long after that, that the Mandrake draught was ready, and he had to watch Hermione Granger run into the Great Hall grinning widely at her Gryffindor friends, not sparing him a glance.

**~ | * | ~**

But Hermione had just been distracted.

She had suspected Draco’s involvement in her procurement of the Basilisk page from the start. She had never been sure what to make of his constant presence in the library. When the page appeared after she’d taken a trip to the loo, and just after passing Draco on his way out of the library, she was sure.

For the life of her, she could not imagine why Draco Malfoy would be looking to warn her against a giant monster specifically to snuff out her kind was let out in the school. Especially, because he had publicly humiliated her, calling her that unforgivable word, and had privately proclaimed his desire for her to be next to die.

His secret actions spoke louder, however, and she went into her holiday break thinking about his ulterior motives. His true feelings. His twisted home life that required him to play two roles.

Yes, she spent quite a lot of her time now... thinking about Draco Malfoy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Predictions for year 3?! We're past the initial headcannon, so what's next? Thanks for reading and commenting!


	3. Year 3

Hermione was in France with her parents. It was the summer holiday between second and third year, and she’d packed in a hurry just after returning home from King’s Cross. Consequently, she’d left behind a few items, including the new parchment and quill set Harry had gotten her for Christmas. Feeling that she would be just wasting away her time if she didn’t at least get started on summer schoolwork, she convinced her parents to venture over to Place Cachée (the Parisian equivalent of Diagon Alley) about two weeks into their month-long journey.

Her parents sat down to have coffee at a quaint little cafe, while she perused the stationery store on her own. After all, she’d said to them, she was nearly fourteen, and should be allowed to shop unaccompanied. They let her get away with this because they could see clear into the shop from where they were sitting.

As she browsed the shelves, she inhaled deeply. The scent of fresh parchment, coupled with the dulcet sounds of the French language from another store patron was simply enchanting. She quickly located a quill and parchment set that would do rather nicely, without being too extravagant, and made her way to the front counter before being frozen in her tracks.

The voice she had been delighting in, belonged to none other than Draco Malfoy.

What was he doing in France?

How was it that they kept meeting in shops?

A number of questions continued to flood her mind as she stared, aghast. Her expression caught the notice of the shopkeeper, whose gaze caused Malfoy to spin around.

She could not categorize the look on his face. For a moment, the slightest of moments, he looked pleased. His expression changed, almost by force, to a look of disdain.

Only, his sneer didn’t quite reach his eyes. It was as though his lip had been instructed to curl, but his heart wasn’t quite in it.

She smirked.

“I didn’t know you spoke French, Malfoy.”

“Oh! Does zee young girl know Meester Malfoy?” asked the shopkeeper.

At that, Malfoy turned back to the shopkeeper and muttered something in French that Hermione could not hear, let alone translate. Then, he turned and swept out of the store as quickly as he could, not noticing that Hermione had abandoned her quill and ink set and followed him.

She tailed him halfway down the lane before he noticed her presence and spun around.

“What are you doing?” he said as she stopped short, surprised by his quick turn. For a moment, they were nearly nose to nose, before she had a chance to take a step back, swallowing nervously. She took a deep breath and steeled herself, unwilling to let him see her rattled.

“I wanted to thank you,” she said. And she watched as his expression again turned immediately to something like delight before snapping back to disdain.

“For what?”

She didn’t answer him immediately, but took the moment to study him. He had come into his looks in the last year, for sure. If she wasn’t mistaken, he seemed to have grown taller in the few short weeks between the end of school feast and now.

Finally, she thought she ought to speak and said, “For the warning...about the Basilisk.”

He blinked back at her, seeming to be holding back an enormity of things in that moment.

“I don’t know what you’re—” he began to say, but she stepped forward, lightly grazing her hand against his where it hung by his side. Leaning in to bring her lips to his ear, she was surprised, and then emboldened by the fact that he did not pull away. 

In fact, she thought she could feel him shiver as she leaned in close and said, “You saved my life and I know it.”

Lingering there for a moment, she noticed goosebumps on his neck. It was this that caused her to lean even closer and place a kiss on his cheek.

When she pulled back, he looked utterly flabbergasted

“See you at school, Malfoy,” she said, and turned on her heel, leaving a dumbfounded Draco in her wake.

**~ | * | ~**

As the Hogwarts Express pulled into Hogsmeade Station, Draco firmly decided: he would do everything in his power to throw her off his scent. It was the only way to deal with the ridiculous situation he’d gotten himself into.

After their rendezvous, he’d endured countless sleepless nights, and a barrage of dreams which included the scene in Paris, ending not with Hermione Granger walking away from him, but something entirely different. If his father knew what had been going through his mind, he would be done for. It had been bad enough last year that Theo Nott had been particularly nosey about Draco’s preoccupation with Granger. Draco had had to take a number of measures to publicly ensure that no one would mistake him for a blood traitor, including calling her a Mudblood, and insisting that he wished her dead.

All of the actions he’d taken had pained him, and yet, he reasoned that they were all in service of protecting the girl he’d come to be fond of. For if his father knew, if anyone knew, that he had been steadily falling for a Muggle-born, he and his whole family would be marked traitors.

If he hadn’t already known of this possibility from hearing about his Aunt Andromeda, he would never have considered it. As it was, he had an aunt and uncle he would never know, in addition to a cousin, and who knew how many other family members.

And so, he remained firm. He needed to throw everyone possible off the scent that Granger had somehow picked up on. He needed to be exceedingly careful this year, to not overstep his new boundaries. He needed to make her hate him.

Step one: Humiliate Potter for fainting in the midst of Dementors

Step two: Humiliate the oaf Hagrid, and get him sacked if at all possible

The school year began, and Draco stuck to his plan, all the while aware of a dull pain in his abdomen, at the thought of Hermione Granger deciding to change her mind and hate him back, as she rightfully should.

**~ | * | ~**

Hermione couldn’t stand it any longer. Not only had Draco tormented Harry and nearly gotten him killed on the Quidditch pitch, he’d also put Hagrid through a ridiculously tumultuous affair involving his Hippogriff. The fact that Pansy Parkinson had been hanging all over him at every chance she’d got was also on her list of offenses, just somewhere at the bottom.

It was the day after they’d freed Sirius from the fate of the Dementor’s Kiss, and Hermione was still in the hospital wing recovering from some minor injuries she’d endured. The Time-Turner was warm against her skin where it lay under her shirt, and she trailed her fingers over it, considering all of the possibilities if she were to use it again. She knew where both versions of her would be. Knew that she would not interfere with the events of the evening. Then again, she did not know when Snape would leave the castle exactly, or where he would leave from.

No, it was too big of a risk to go back to the moment when she’d slapped Malfoy.

She made a fist and felt her knuckles crack as the memory flooded her mind.

It had felt so wonderful. She really meant every ounce of it. The little tosser had been doing everything possible to ruin the lives of the people she loved. He had never, however, said a word against her personally, or done anything to provoke her specifically. In fact, he’d been ignoring her altogether, and she found that this version of Draco Malfoy was the most unpalatable yet.

For Merlin’s sake, he couldn’t even acknowledge their meeting? She’d told her parents about it, which had been risky. She thought that perhaps he would have come and found her during the remainder of her holiday, but later kicked herself for being so bloody romantic. Since when had she been a romantic?!

Indeed, he’d given her no cause to be that way about him. He seemed instead to be intent on having her loathe him, or at least to have everyone she loved loathe him, thus making any sort of communication between them impossible.

Well, she wasn’t having it.

Harry had gone to see Lupin at the end of the school year and had gotten the Maurauder’s Map back. After being released from the hospital wing to go and pack her things, she stealthily snuck into the boy’s dormitory during breakfast one morning and nicked the map from Harry’s trunk, along with his invisibility cloak.

Once in her room, she activated the map and located Malfoy. Luckily, he was out on the grounds, and alone. She easily breezed through the halls and out into the grounds on a sunlit morning, only to find Malfoy grumpily tossing stones into the lake. She grinned to herself, remembering that she’d found Hargid doing this multiple times that year. While still out of his line of sight, she removed and stowed the cloak, and approached him with confidence she wasn't sure she actually had.

“What is your bloody problem, Malfoy?!” is what she went with, though she could have said literally anything and it would have caused the same reaction. Malfoy spun on the spot, wand drawn, and pointed it at her chest. She did not flinch as he did so.

“You touch me again, Granger, and you’ll regret it.”

They stood staring at one another for a long while before she spoke again.

“I’m sorry for hitting you.”

She could tell that this had been the furthest thing from what he’d expected her to say.

Unsurprisingly, he did not respond, and so she went on. “It’s just... I know what you’ve been doing.”

His brow furrowed and he lowered his wand, but only to straighten out his robes and make himself look more dignified.

“You’ve been trying to make me hate you.”

“Why would I give a damn what you think, you filthy little—”

But she’d sprung forward and placed a finger on his lips, which he took as an opportunity to stop speaking.

She stared into his grey eyes, noticing the way they sparkled subtly in the sunlight.

“Because you do. You do give a damn, Malfoy.”

Her finger was still on his lips, but she moved it over to his jawline, lightly grazing the edge, and moving up to tuck a stray hair behind his ear. He closed his eyes as she did so, and she felt her stomach do a flip as he inhaled deeply at her touch.

She was shaking, and she could feel that he was too.

“Please stop hurting my friends,” she said in an almost whisper.

His eyes met hers, and she felt as though he was memorizing her.

“I can’t promise that,” he said.

She tilted her head to side slightly, taking in his eyes once again as they blazed into hers.

“Good enough,” she replied.

The hand she still had on the side of his head gripped his hair tightly as she pulled him down so that their lips could meet.

And it was sweet oblivion. Everything about him was electric, and yet soft and warm and comforting. He groaned at the contact of their tongues, as she allowed them to swirl and dance together. His hands moved immediately into her hair, which he grasped just as tightly as she had his.

No one came out to the lake to disturb them that morning, and when she returned back, she found that Harry and Ron had gone to fly the Firebolt on the Quidditch pitch, and easily re-stowed his map and cloak without him ever noticing.

What had begun as a few omissions of information was steadily becoming a second life for Hermione. In her current state, however, she found that she did not much mind being the keeper of this particular secret.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love your predictions! What about year 4???


	4. Year 4

Lucius Malfoy glared down at Hermione as if she was less significant than a House-elf, and she stared back defiantly, unwilling to let him see that he’d rattled her. They were standing in the top box at the Quidditch World Cup, having the most awkward interaction of the century between the Weasley and Malfoy families.

Once Lucius tore his gaze from her, she felt her own sigh of relief, but also caught sight of Draco’s shoulders lowering from the corner of her eye. She dared not look at him, still unsure how to feel about what had transpired between them, and conscious about the possibility of creating suspicion about their relationship.

They’d spent that one glorious morning together by the lake, but hadn’t been able to communicate much over the summer. They’d decided it was far too dangerous, as his parents could intercept his mail at any time.

He had, however, managed to get Dobby to bring her one message. Apparently, he and the Elf were still on good terms. It was a simple note, letting her know that Lucius seemed to be making some big plans. Plans that Draco was not privy to, but the little he’d overheard had left him with a bad feeling about the World Cup.

Once again, he’d wanted to put her on her guard.

She still had the note. She knew it was foolish to keep something like that, and he’d instructed her to destroy it, but she found that holding it made her feel connected to him. It was in her pocket as she stood in the top box, glaring back at Lucius Malfoy, and she clutched it tightly to give her strength.

She didn’t know where they stood, or what “they” even meant, but she knew that he was protecting her, and she would do the same for him as best she could.

**~ | * | ~**

Draco was losing his mind. His father and all of his Death Eater friends were marching around in hoods. Draco had slipped away from his mother and was searching everywhere for Hermione. Dodging parents who were screaming for their kids, and falling fiery debris as he went. He dared not call out her name in case anyone saw him, but he had to find her.

Eventually taking cover in the nearby woods, he lit his wand and began to trek through the thick underbrush of the forest, knowing full well that his underage magic would not be a concern in the middle of this sort of scene.

After only a few moments, he heard voices in the distance and extinguished the light at the end of his wand tip. Recognizing that it was indeed them, he breathed a sigh of relief and positioned himself leaning casually against a tree, ready to play his part.

**~ | * | ~**

“Keep that big bushy head down, Granger!”

It took everything in her power not to smile as she thought back to their morning at the lake.

He’d buried his fingers in her hair. He’d admitted how much he’d always wanted to do so.

“You always made fun of me for it,” she’d argued.

He’d released his grip and pulled back to look her in the eyes as he’d said, “A supremely good tactic for hiding my true feelings.”

She blinked and her present day surroundings came back to her. They were amidst danger and chaos. They’d been separated from the others. She urged Harry and Ron on, they needed to find Fred, George, and Ginny.

**~ | * | ~**

Draco asked Pansy to the Yule Ball. As much as it pained him, he had to do it. It wasn’t as though he could go waltzing over to the Gryffindor table and ask the witch he really wanted to spend the evening with. Besides, Pansy clearly had a huge crush on him, and he would selfishly benefit from the cover their faux relationship provided.

He was doing it to protect Hermione. He had to keep telling himself that.

For a moment, he’d considered confiding his secret in Pansy, but she had the biggest mouth in their year, and he knew she wouldn’t be able to keep it in. It would get back to his parents in no time at all. With the looming threat of the return of the Dark Lord, he couldn’t chance it.

What made his blood boil, however, was that Viktor Krum, a person he had greatly admired previously, had apparently set his own sights on Hermione.

The part that irked him was that she seemed to be enjoying Krum’s attention. He shouldn’t have been spying on her, he knew full well that she was safe, no Basilisk or escaped apparent mass murderer might be lurking in the library, and yet…

He found himself there more often than he probably ought to be, watching them in their “study sessions” and exercising enormous control when all he wanted to do was point his wand Krum’s way and cause his face to fill with oozing boils.

Of course he didn’t, but when the night of the Yule Ball arrived, his task of having to act impartial and even hateful towards her was more difficult than rescuing a golden egg from ten dragons. When she stepped into the hall on Krum’s arm, his jaw dropped. He did always love her bushy hair, but seeing it gathered up elegantly on her head was breathtaking.

It was a good thing all eyes in the hall were on her, because no one caught Draco staring. His trance was finally broken by his date.

“Where did her enormous teeth go?!”

Draco refocused on Hermione, and now noticed as well that her teeth had shrunk considerably in size. His stomach did a flip as he remembered the scene outside potions class. He had intended to hit Weasley that day.

“Seems Pomfrey went a bit overboard in her correction.”

Pansy huffed loudly. “Why should she be allowed to do that while I’m stuck with this nose? I’m having it altered as soon as I come of age, I’ll tell you that right now!”

Draco wasn’t listening, however, as he was far more focused on following Hermione and Krum’s progress around the dance floor.

The night went on and on like that for him. He did his best to pretend he was enjoying time with his date, but anyone who was paying attention would have seen his obsession immediately.

He desperately wanted to get her alone before the end of the night, if only to tell her directly how beautiful she looked. A voice in the back of his mind kept telling him it was pure insanity, but he brushed it away.

Towards the end of the night, he was lurking in the corridor outside the hall when he saw Weasley approaching with Hermione at his heels. They seemed to be arguing. He quickly made his way up the staircase with the thought of eavesdropping on their row. When the pair started to charge up the staircase themselves, he quickly made his way up the next staircase, where he was still within earshot. From what he could discern, Weasley was jealous of Krum.

Join the club, he thought. There would probably be quite a few members ready to join. Far more than her little S.P.E.W. venture, anyway.

Weasley began walking towards where Draco was hiding, and Draco quickly disillusioned himself, a trick he’d learned over the summer, so that Weasley passed by without noticing him. Once he was alone, he peered down and saw that Hermione was sitting, rather defeated, on the stairs. She took off her shoes, and then gathered them up and began her ascent to Gryffindor Tower. He made his way there as well, until he reached a landing. When she stepped onto the same landing, he linked his arm with hers and whispered, “Granger, it’s me.”

She gasped, but held her composure. “What are you doing?” she whispered urgently.

“Will you come with me?”

She nodded nervously, and he gently led her into the corridor off the landing. Removing his Disillusionment Charm, he led them into an empty classroom and shut the door quietly behind them.

When he turned to look at her, she seemed completely defeated. Her makeup was running, and her hair had come slightly undone. She looked up at him expectantly and he took a deep breath.

“Hi,” he said dumbly.

A perplexed expression crossed her face. “Hi?”

“Sorry, I—” he began, but stopped when he realized that she was crying, her shoes on the ground, and her hands covering her face.

“Draco, will you please tell me what you want? I’ve had rather a night, and I don’t know that I can take much more.”

He stared at her, mouth agape. This was not the reception he’d expected, though he hadn’t really thought it through either.

“I… er… wanted to tell you how beautiful you looked,” he said, hating himself with every syllable.

She dropped her hands and stared at him, aghast. “Well, I’m so glad that some hair potion and expensive robes grabbed your attention enough to communicate with me, but might I say that your timing is horrific?!”

He was completely gobsmacked. His mouth opened and closed a few times, his mind unable to formulate a response. She began pacing as she spoke.

“All evening, I’ve had every wizard in this school vying for my attention. All of a sudden someone takes interest and now… this is when Ron…. and now you…”

“And now I what?” he said, advancing on her.

She spun to face him. “And now you want to tell me I’m beautiful, when you’ve clearly been with Pansy for months now!”

Dread and anxiety swept through his body upon hearing her words.

“You… you think that Pansy… that I—”

“I don’t think, I know! I see!”

“Granger, that’s just a cover.”

At this she laughed, and he recoiled in confusion.

“Right, I’m sure it’s just a cover when she’s kissing your neck in the back of Potions or sneaking off with you into the grounds at night.”

It was true that Pansy had been rather… physical with him. He had endured it all, thinking it merely added to the convincing cover. The time in the grounds had been nothing at all, though Pansy had certainly made it out to sound like something.

Still, he thought she was being rather unfair, as she had not just one, but two wizards vying for her heart aside from him.

“Well, what about you and Krum?! And Weasley? Am I just supposed to sit by and watch that happen when we—”

“We what?” she said, now approaching him with her arms tightly crossed and a dangerous expression on her face.

He recoiled a bit as she invaded his personal space, but then softened as he looked into her eyes.

“When we... I don’t know, Granger. I don’t know what we are, but I know we’re not nothing.”

She glared at him, and it was the scene by the lake all over again.

“Prove it,” she growled.

He raised his eyebrows. “And how would you like for me to do that? Shall I owl my father and let him know, so that his Death Eater pals can target you directly?”

He meant for this to startle her, but she did not falter.

“I was thinking perhaps you could kiss me, and we could deal with your father at a later date.”

He didn’t hesitate for another moment, but leaned down and pressed his lips to hers.

They broke apart, both gasping for air. "So, you don't want Pansy?"

He cupped her cheeks in his hands. "Granger, you're it for me. But we have to be careful."

She kissed him in response, and he could feel her intended meaning. She felt the same about him. He could endure all the Weasleys and Krums he needed to, as long as he knew he got to have her in the end.

As they got lost in each other, they did not notice the classroom door opening, and the lithe form of Theodore Nott stepping in. He only stayed for a few moments, and then stepped out into the hall.

Once there, he pulled a vial from his pocket. Placing his wand to his temple, he withdrew the memory he’d just witnessed and dropped it into the vial. Then, he headed back to the Slytherin Common Room to add it to his growing collection of evidence to send back to Lucius Malfoy.


	5. Year 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Our first slightly canon-divergent chapter, and it's going to diverge quite a bit from here. Maybe :D

The fact that Draco Malfoy was made Prefect was now common knowledge throughout the school, and everyone had an opinion about it. For the first time, Hermione got a taste of what Draco had to endure on a regular basis: she had to pretend to loathe him. She had to be outraged about the fact that he, son of a Death Eater, would be given any sort of authority at Dumbledore’s school.

In private moments, she got to celebrate that the headmaster saw the good in Draco, in addition to the fact that they would be patrolling together some nights.

It was pure torture, not to feign angst, but to hide her utter delight. The end of their fourth year had been excruciating. Shortly after the Yule Ball, Draco’s father had begun sending the remaining Malfoy Elves to the school to spy on him. Consequently, he and Hermione were not able to meet up and really speak to one another for months. They did devise a note passing system, but she had noticed an Elf on her tail just as she slipped the note into the back of the portrait of Ogg, the former Hogwarts gamekeeper, and she’d given away the secret.

The worst part was, her notes had simply stopped, and she couldn’t find a way to communicate with him safely for the rest of the year.

But this school year, they would have built-in reasons to communicate with each other, and she simply could not wait.

**~ | * | ~**

Draco was dreading the start of the school year. Not only had he been made Prefect, for some unknown and suspicious reason, but so had Hermione. After the prior school year, they had never gotten to reconnect. Draco stupidly assumed that Hermione would be in France again for the holidays, and even made special arrangements to ensure his time there, but she’d never shown. They’d lost contact mid-school year, and he had assumed that her note had gotten lost.

She must be so cross with him, he hadn’t found another way to communicate and he was sure he’d angered her. She was rather sensitive, but not in a bad way. At least, Draco did not mind it. He found her insecurities rather endearing, and that seeing hers made him more able to see and accept his own.

He was quite sure that she’d been hurt, and did not even get the opportunity to see her over the summer to make it up to her.

And then, the Death Eater stuff had started back up. There were house guests at the Manor all the time. He was privy to nothing.

It was rather disturbing, as well, that he caught glimpses of Theo Nott, accompanying his father to certain meetings. What could they want with him? He and Draco hadn’t gotten on as friends, at least… they had initially, but Theo had suddenly grown aloof and begun separating himself from Draco and the other Slytherins in second year.

It was therefore strange to see him at the Manor.

And why was Draco being kept out of all of it?

He was not complaining, he would rather not be involved in a group that sought to kill the girl he was rather sure he was in love with.

He was unsure about how exactly to determine whether he loved her, but felt that the amount of time he spent wishing for her good fortune, or desiring to be in her company, probably equated to love.

It was even more disconcerting, then, to have a family and large group of acquaintances who were all vying for Hermione’s demise, along with anyone else of her parentage.

So, while he was glad to get out of the Manor, something in him felt uneasy about the fact that he would not be able to keep an eye on them, however useless his eyes were when they often were kept out of important things. He gathered as much information as he could that might help her, and affixed his haughty persona upon boarding the train and beginning his year as an O.W.L. student and Prefect.

**~ | * | ~**

Hermione wasn’t sure what had come over her.

Well, that wasn’t true… Dolores Umbridge was the answer. Hermione shouldn’t be held responsible for her actions when faced with that toad of a witch. She was clearly too incompetent to understand that students could not be expected to pass O.W.L. practical exams without practical practice! Harry had opened his mouth to talk back, and Hermione had covered it, as she rose from her seat, taking the floor herself. Her proclamations about Voldemort’s return, and aspersions cast at the pink professor, had earned her a week’s detention with the kitten-loving harpy.

Once she had one detention under her belt, Hermione came to the confident conclusion that the woman was pure evil.

On top of the stinging scars on the back of her hand, which were turned back into wounds each evening, Hermione wasn’t learning what she needed to learn to pass her O.W.L.s, _and_ her patrolling schedule had not yet lined up with Draco’s once. She’d had to patrol with Pansy Parkinson one night, which nearly earned her irreversible burns when she and Pansy got into a duel, and one of Pansy’s spells went badly run.

Thankfully, Hermione knew the Shield Charm well enough to save her skin from the flying sparkly acid.

The duel did, however, give her an idea. The students themselves would have to form a coalition. A study group, and yet something more than that. After all, if there was another war, they’d all want to fight. At the very least, they should know how. The duelling club in second year had been a bit of a disaster, but she would find a way to make a successful one.

These were the things she filled her mind with. She had to, otherwise all she would think about was how she could not figure out what was going on in Draco’s head. They’d had minimal eye contact, let alone any opportunity to even almost speak, and she could not tell whether he was avoiding her, or acting for the sake of onlookers.

She was no longer being tailed by Elves, they seemed to have been sated the year prior when they hadn’t been able to catch the pair together once.

She had yet to find an opportunity to get Draco alone, and yet, on some level, she feared what she might find, if and when the time came.

It was therefore not until the members of Dumbledore’s Army were caught and held in Umbridge’s office that they’d been able to look one another in the eye for longer than a moment.

**~ | * | ~**

Draco grabbed her, pinning her hands behind her back, but making rather a show of how rough he was, when in actuality he was barely touching her.

They’d exchanged a significant glance once in the office, amidst watching Potter being interrogated. He’d never performed Legilimency before, but had read extensively on the theory. It turned out, he was naturally accomplished at it.

Hermione had been able to hold his gaze in order to communicate everything she needed to him. He learned of the situation with Sirius in the Ministry, as well as her plan to lead Umbridge out to the centaurs. The very fact that she was confiding in him set his mind at ease, she still considered him to be on her side.

When Hermione made the proposition to take Umbridge out to see the alleged “secret weapon” left behind by Dumbledore, Draco stepped up to accompany his headmistress as a loyal Inquisitorial Squad member. The others all backed away, throwing looks at Draco as if to say, “Are you daft, mate?” and “It was nice knowing you.”

And so, Draco had found himself walking out into the forest with a wand pointed directly at Hermione’s back.

Before they even needed to penetrate too far into the woods, she glanced over her shoulder at him, locking eyes.

 _Now!_ he heard her say in his mind. Then Hermione shouted aloud, “Behind you, Professor!”

Umbridge spun around, and Draco turned his wand on the pink tweed blazer, casting a perfect Stunner. The witch hit the ground in the most awkward pose, her arm extended and her nose squished into her armpit. For a moment he wanted to laugh, before he remembered who he was with. He looked up at Potter and instinctively pointed his wand at the bespectacled face.

“Draco!” Hermione cried.

At this, Potter turned a confused look on Hermione and said, “Draco?!” then looked anxiously between them. “Hermione you are going to tell me what in the bloody hell is going on here—”

“Yes, yes, of course, I am, but in a moment, Harry,” she said as she charged forward and hugged Draco, nearly knocking him over. He returned the embrace, pressing a kiss to the top of her head, and closing his eyes to savor the sensation of having her back in his arms.

At once, they both started mumbling apologies. Similar sentiments about being unable to find ways of passing messages without being found out.

“Excuse me!” Potter’s voice cut through their reverie, and when Hermione pulled back, Draco saw that her eyes were filled with tears. Happy, yet panicked tears.

“What… what is this?!” Potter asked.

He saw Hermione take a deep breath, before going over to place a hand on Potter’s shoulder. Draco had been apart from her for so long, and yet his instinct to murder Potter in that moment washed over him in hot waves. Still, he stood his ground and allowed Hermione to do all of the talking.

She did a surprisingly thorough, yet brief summation of everything that had transpired between them, starting with the page about the Basilisk, omitting their more intimate moments, and ending with the current situation before them.

But Potter was not having any of it. Finally, Draco interjected.

“Look, Potter, I understand your position. If I were you it would take me a very long time to believe anything Hermione just said.”

When he left it at that, Potter cocked his head to the side.

“You see, Harry? It’s all been an act,” Hermione added.

“Well, not all of it, I will always hate you for beating me at Quidditch,” Draco said, allowing a small smile. This, too, seemed to disarm the wandless wizard before him, though he simply stared back, mouth open slightly, seemingly stunned.

It was at that moment that Draco himself was hit with a Stunner to the back. As he fell to the ground, he vaguely registered Weasley’s voice having shouted the charm before everything went black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> DUN DUN DUNNNNN
> 
> What do you suppose happens next?


	6. Year 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh the canon divergence :D
> 
> Sorry for typos, I don't yet have the patience to send to a beta before publishing, but I do have a friend who is going to beta this <3
> 
> Warning: some gore in this one, very briefly in the bathroom scene.

Narcissa Malfoy stood in the entryway of Number 12 Grimmauld place, taking in her not-so-unfamiliar surroundings; the place itself was something of a relic from her childhood. Her reluctant niece gestured toward the door down the hall, which she, Narcissa, remembered leading to a kitchen, and then turned to retreat up the stairs.

“Dora, w… wait,” Narcissa said.

Tonks turned back sharply and spoke with readily apparent venom. “I agreed to bring you here, I did not agree to invite you back into my family. Yet.”

Narcissa took in a shaky breath, maintaining her proprietary to the best of her ability, her plastered on smile betraying a slight tremble. Before she could think of a reply, Tonks had disappeared up the stairs, and Narcissa set her gaze on the door, intent to be reunited with her son as quickly as possible.

**~ | * | ~**

Draco sat in the dingy kitchen of his new temporary home, his hand clasped tightly around Hermione’s beneath the table. Everyone present had been made aware of their relationship by now, as they’d spent weeks recovering together in the hospital wing at Hogwarts. That was when Draco had learned about the existence of his ancestral home, because he’d overheard one of the Order members asking Potter if he would call the old house elf to see if ownership of the house had indeed passed to him.

After seeing Draco’s efforts to fight beside the Order in the ministry, even against his own father, his Gryffindor classmates had accepted his presence in their lives more readily than he’d imagined possible. Hermione had been equally surprised, as well as relieved, that Draco’s actions, and subsequent apologies and explanations for his behavior, had been largely accepted by her friends.

Largely, but not entirely. There was still a sense of suspicion that Draco imagined might never fully go away, or would take a significant amount of time to. He, however, was willing to wait if it meant that he could be with Hermione.

Just as that thought crossed his mind, the kitchen door opened and in walked his mother. He stood, releasing Hermione’s hand in the process, and only realizing after the fact that she might interpret the action as an effort to hide their connection from his mother.

“Mother,” he said, walking around the table to greet her. She’d been stationed at the Tonks’s residence ever since his father had been sent to Azkaban and she’d rushed to the school to retrieve him so that they could flee the country together. Dumbledore had instead offered to keep her in hiding, ensuring her that she’d be safer under his protection. After Draco had agreed with Dumbledore’s pronouncement, his mother had come around to the idea, and she’d gone to stay there, while Draco had been sent to The Burrow. Now, however, they could both be together at Number Twelve.

His mother embraced him tightly, planting multiple kisses on the top of his head, which made him suddenly aware of Potter and Weasley being in the room. He pulled back, not unkindly, and gave her a small smile.

“Alright children!” Mrs. Weasley said in a piercing voice from where she stood near the stove. “You know you won’t be allowed to stay for the meeting, now run along upstairs.”

At this, there was a cavalcade of disagreements flung her way from Harry, Ron, and Ginny, while Fred and George sat back smirking.

“That’s right children,” Fred said, “be off to your rooms now.”

“And don’t let us catch you on the extendables if you know what’s good for you!” added George.

Draco looked at his mother, who wore a sad smile and said, “I’ll come up to visit with you after it’s done, now be a good boy and go.”

He had so many things to ask her, and it seemed like it would be an eternity before he found out her side of things. It wasn’t clear to him whether she was fully on board with being a turncoat, or was simply doing whatever needed to be done to stay with him.

The latter seemed far more predictable.

Then again, he’d surprised everyone in the room with his own allegiance status, so he supposed anything was possible.

**~ | * | ~**

If Hermione hadn’t seen it with her own eyes, she never would have believed it possible. Harry, Ron, Ginny, and Draco, were sat on sofas in the upstairs drawing room, as Draco faced Harry off in a game of wizard’s chess and the other two looked on, adding in colorful commentary.

It was as though she’d traveled to an alternate universe. Then again, her last few weeks had felt that way. They’d come face to face with death eaters and lived to tell the tale. Her relationship with Draco had not only been reinstated, but was now public, at least to her friends.

They’d all decided that it would be best for Draco to maintain his distance from them once back at school. A story had been put about that Narcissa Malfoy had been killed in a duel with the aurors when they’d arrived to raid Malfoy Manor, and that Draco had gone to spend his summer with relatives abroad.

There had also been quite a debate as to whether he should return to Hogwarts at all, but eventually they’d decided that he would be safe in Dumbledore’s care.

Now that Narcissa had arrived, Draco would be remaining at Grimmauld Place for the remainder of the summer, while Harry and Hermione would be staying at the Burrow. It pained Hermione, as she knew she wouldn’t be able to spend much time with him once at school, and the summer already seemed to be flying by.

Hermione was also worried about what the arrival of Narcissa would mean for them. Draco may not want his mother to know about their relationship. Her stomach turned as she recalled the moment in the kitchen when he’d released her hand so quickly. Surely, he’d just been eager to greet his mother. It wasn’t as though their hands could have been seen below the table anyway, but still… it had felt significant.

“That’s check…. Mate,” she heard Draco say, and snapped her head up.

Harry groaned. “You’re worse to play against than Ron, honestly.”

“Hey!” Ron said, “I beat him last round; I’d say he’s an equal player at best.”

“Yeah,” Harry said, motioning towards Draco. “But it’s Malfoy, I don’t think I’ll ever enjoy losing to him.”

Ginny giggled, grinning at Harry, while Ron shrugged and said, “Yeah fair point.”

Hermione noticed a small smile on Draco’s face, and wondered how he was feeling now that the initial suspicion around his motives had died down.

It was a good thing she had kept the torn page from the basilisk book, because it had ended up being the thing that made Ron and Harry open their minds to the idea that Draco had been playing a part all those years.

Just then, Fred and George entered the room.

“Come to gloat?” Ron asked.

The twins turned to one another and spoke in whispers. It sounded like the continuation of an argument they’d been having on their way there.

Finally they turned back, eyed focused specifically on Draco, and George asked, “What do you know about Theodore Nott?”

**~ | * | ~**

Draco was well into the school year, and so far nothing out of the ordinary had occurred.

Well, if you didn’t count Potter suddenly becoming some sort of potions master for no discernable reason. At least, not at first. It soon came to pass that his second-hand school book had all manner of additional notes written into the margins, which, when followed, produced results that were unfathomable for a typical 6th year student.

The felix felicis it had helped him procure would surely aid in his quest against the dark lord, and to be honest, Draco had been rather glad that Potter had won it over Nott.

That summer, Fred and George had put him on his guard where Theo was concerned. They’d been instructed to do so by the Order, and to leave out any useful detail in the process. Draco, Harry, Ron, Ginny, and Hermione were simply told to watch out for Nott.

Subsequently, they all became obsessed with Nott.

**~ | * | ~**

Hermione crept along the corridor, having followed Nott out of Slughorn’s party, which he’d been gate-crashing. Suddenly, she heard Snape, clear as day, just around the corner. Quickly disillusioning herself, she ducked down for good measure.

“Cannot afford mistakes, Theodore, because if you are expelled--”  
“I didn’t have anything to do with it, all right?”

…

“For the last time, I didn’t do it, okay? That Bell girl must’ve had an enemy no one knows about.”

She’d heard Snape attempt to read Nott’s mind, and fail to do so because Nott was studying occlumency.

Interesting.

Well, if it was something one could learn in a book, then Hermione was the witch for the job.

She had no idea why, but her intuition was just telling her that she needed to practice the mind-clearing discipline. Her mind was always full of thoughts, and wouldn’t it be a wonder to be able to command them?

Yes, she would learn, and she would practice with the others. Just like the DA days.

Back then, they had a variety of ways to let one another know when to meet. This year, however, Hermione had come up with another idea. She’d come across a spell in a book, while cooped up at the burrow that summer. It was for a protean charm, which would allow several objects to change simultaneously through a common purpose. For example, she put a charm on multiple coins, so that if she put a message on one, it would appear on all the others. She passed these out to everyone who’d been at the ministry.

They needed a core team working together against Nott.

Whatever the wizard was planning, they had to be ready for it.

**~ | * | ~**

When Katie Bell returned, Draco was standing in the Great Hall with Potter. They both saw it at once.

Nott looked panicked.

Then Katie looked over at him, and Nott loosened his tie, while backing out of the hall. Then he turned on his heel and was gone, but Harry and Draco had taken off running just soon enough to see the wizard’s robes disappear up the main staircase. They followed at speed.

Once they saw him enter a bathroom, they slowed.

“Wha’dya reckon?” Harry said.

“I… reckon… he did it and he’s about to vomit from disgust with himself,” replied Draco.

The second they set foot in the bathroom, they heard it.

Crying.

It was Nott.

Nott was crying.

How could that be?

But before they had a chance to riddle it out, Nott gasped and spun around, pointing a wand at both of them and crying, “Bombarda!”

The floor in front of them ruptured, and stone flew straight up at their faces. They cast simultaneous protego charms, and the stone fell into a pile of rubble at their feet as Nott dove around a corner.

Harry and Draco nodded at one another and then took off in opposite directions, keen to corner Nott and interrogate him.

But Nott was aiming to kill. The first green jet of light flew past Draco’s left ear. The second, just past his torso as he dove out of the way.

No killing curses aimed at Harry, Nott was looking to kill Draco.

And then, everything went red.

Harry’s voice cried out a spell Draco had never heard before, and Nott’s chest ripped open as though he’d been sliced by five large blades at once. Their spells had caused a number of pipes to burst, and Theodore Nott fell to the floor in a watery pool of water mixed with his own blood.

Then, Snape was there, and he said some complicated incantations as Draco watched the blood siphon out of the water, and back into Nott’s body. It did not look like light magic, any of it.

It was at that moment Draco realized that Harry was next to him, leaning on him for support. Draco had put an arm around Potter for stability. Potter seemed to be in a state of shock from the spell he’d just cast, as if he hadn’t meant to do it.

They were both equally punished, as well as interrogated and forced to turn out their school bags.

Snape took back that book.

Nott was in the hospital wing, and for the first time in a long time, they could all breathe. Sort of.

**~ | * | ~**

Hermione could tell that Harry was disgusted with himself for what he’d done to Nott. She had warned him about that book, as had Ginny. Since Harry and Ginny were now dating, the latter took particular issue with Harry’s use of a book he’d grown to trust. It reminded her of Riddle's diary, and now she had proof that she’d been right, the book was evil.

Hermione, on the other hand, was unable to have much of a say in her boyfriend’s life, seeing as they were expected to stay away from one another the entire school year.

However, this year, knowing full well that the other was still interested, a Slytherin and a Gryffindor were not going to accept those rules. Between the Marauder’s Map and the invisibility cloak, with Harry’s help they were able to find times to meet in different parts of the school.

“Just don’t tell me where you go or what you get up to, please,” Harry had asked after handing over his two most priceless items. “If I get to be with Ginny, you two should be able to… ya know, whatever.”

She’d thanked him profusely, though it did feel a bit odd, knowing what she wanted to use them for.

The first time, they snuck into the library and went back to the restricted section. They both knew it well, having been first and second in their class every year and regularly doing work that required extra research.

Hermione hadn’t expected the sex to feel good.

From everything she’d read about it, the first time was always painful. For some reason, however, it wasn’t really that way for her. He’d laid down on a conjured blanket, and she’d climbed on top of him. She’d been plenty aroused, and it had felt lovely. Not earth-shatteringly wonderful, but not bad in any sense of the word.

He had, of course, enjoyed it perfectly and immensely.

The second time, however, in an empty classroom. On the desk. After having role-played professor and student, well... that time hurt. They’d tried a lot of different positions, which was probably the reason for the pain. Also, it had gone on too long. Just a bit too long.

The third time, however… that was bliss. They’d had some butterbeer that Draco grabbed from a common room party in the dungeons. She remembered being very warm and doing a little striptease for him, that was more silly than sexy.

But then he’d crashed into her, and taken her by the wrists, and he seemed to wrap himself around her while also snogging her senseless.

He’d made love to her that time.

She’d also read about that in books, some occasional muggle fiction she kept deep in the bottom of her school trunk.

One night, Ginny had brought up the topic of sex with Hermione. Apparently, she knew that Hermione and Draco were using the cloak and map to… have some alone time.

Hermione dodged the line of questioning by bringing up her muggle romance novels, which totally worked because Ginny let the subject change immediately and Hermione was in the clear. She didn’t know if she was ready to talk about it.

Just then, a first year appeared with a note for Harry. It was from Dumbledore.

Harry left, but reappeared not too long after, insisting that he needed to be fast. He was going to get a horcrux, which Draco, Ron, and Hermione knew. Ginny did not, as Dumbledore had instructed Harry to make sure the secret was confided in three people, and he did not want to burden her with it.

They used his felix felicis, and when they spotted Theodore Nott leaving the room of requirement, they tailed him.

He’d brought Greyback, and a small army of Death Eaters.

Luna and Neville had come along, and eventually they were all fighting Death Eaters once again, just like the year before, only without Harry.

Harry. He’d still be with Dumbledore. Would the pair arrive back at the school any time soon, or would they all have to fight to the death?

Apparently, it was the former.

**~ | * | ~**

Theodore Nott saved memories of Draco’s exploits with Hermione Granger.

Theodore Nott was made a death eater.

Theodore Nott was tasked with killing Albus Dumbledore.

And Theodore Nott had lowered his wand.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, it's gonna be a full house next week now that Theo is joining the gang! Or is he?


	7. Year 7: Part 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just like the movies, you get it in two parts :D

“Draco, you will calm down this instant, do you hear me?” Narcissa said, a calm chill to her voice that made Draco aware she would tolerate no more of his behavior, but he didn’t care.

“I refuse to live in the same house as him. Have me transferred to the Burrow.”

Narcissa cocked her head to the side and smiled sadly, “You know that’s not possible, darling.”

He did know. Travel between safe houses was on an emergency-only basis, especially to and from Grimmauld Place, seeing as two of its occupants were presumed dead by the general public.

Theodore Nott had consented to going into hiding. Unfortunately, when they’d set out to retrieve his mother, she’d already been killed. The details were still a mystery, but there was a strong suspicion that Nott Senior had done it himself, to spare her the torture they would inevitably face for their son’s failure.

Draco still didn’t know how the Order acquired that information.

All he knew was that he refused to live with the boy who had endangered all of their lives, and especially that of Hermione.

The vials of memories were the deciding factor for Narcissa. Once she’d discovered them in Lucius’s study, she realized that he would deliver that information directly to Voldemort and her son would be in grave danger. It was then that she’d begun plotting against her own husband.

That had gone on since Draco’s fourth year. So much deception. So many lies.

And Nott was to blame for it all.

“Draco, he was so young when his father started manipulating him. You must see how—”

“I was the same age when I discovered Father’s plots! Do you see me with a Dark Mark on my arm? Do you see me letting Greyback and my dear aunt into my own school? No, you don’t.”

“But darling, who’s to say you wouldn’t have gone the same way had it not been for...”

She trailed off, which made Draco turn to look at her. She had a knowing look on her face, and almost a smirk. He couldn’t reconcile how she could be so calm. So empathetic.

Hermione. She was talking about what he and Hermione had shared and how it had affected his choices. A rebuttal began to form in his mind, but was interrupted by the swinging squeak of the kitchen door opening.

In walked Tonks, hair pink as ever, and a glow about her that Draco had never noticed before. Granted, he hadn’t seen the witch all that much, but she seemed to have a halo of light emanating from her.

Turning to face his mother, Tonks said, “He’s settled. I’ve told him the house rules and he’s sworn to abide.” Then she turned on her heel, quick as she’d come, and Narcissa stood abruptly.

“Nym… Tonks, please wait,” she said, then turned to face him. “Draco, will you please leave us?”

To his surprise, his cousin had indeed obeyed and stopped walking. He nodded at his mother and left the room, heading straight up the stairs to see where they’d stashed Nott.

After climbing to the second landing, he heard a distant crash and continued up to the topmost floor.

One of the two bedroom doors was ajar and he heard yet another loud crash as he moved through the hall toward the crack of light.

His first inclination was to go in and lay down the law with Nott. They’d given him a room in their safe house, and he was smashing their things? Well, not really their things, but it was the principle of it.

As he got closer, however, he once again found himself in the position of hearing Theodore Nott, alone in a room, crying. With a jolt to his stomach, he remembered the last time this had been the case, and slowed his steps.

Upon reaching the door, he peered in and saw that Nott was sitting crestfallen on the floor, hands covered in blood. It seemed that he’d punched a mirror on the wall. A few times.

Draco did not fully enter, not that day, nor any subsequent days, but he always heard the outbursts when they happened. Little by little, his curiosity about the inner workings of Theodore Nott’s heart and mind began to grow.

**~ | * | ~**

Hermione was waiting patiently under the tent outside the Burrow. She knew he would look different, but getting to see Draco in any capacity was high on her dearest hopes list. They’d been separated since the disastrous end of the school year. Her heart ached for Dumbledore, and the pain was compounded by the fact that Draco couldn’t be there to comfort her. Only she, Harry, Ron, and Mr. Weasley knew of the plan to have him Polyjuiced as a Muggle. It was easily achieved since Harry would be disguised as well, and Hermione had gone around collecting a variety of Muggle hairs after she’d gone home to secure her parents’ safety.

The pain of losing her parents, at least in their memories, stung more deeply than anything, but she used her Occlumency to keep the pain at bay.

He finally arrived just before the start of the ceremony, and they were able to sit next to one another. They could even hold hands, as Hermione had put about a story that she was seeing a wizard from abroad who would be traveling in.

As the vows were being read, she felt his hand squeeze hers tightly. Then, his breath on her neck and a whisper in her ear that said simply, “One day.”

For the next few hours, Hermione seemed to be in a dream. They danced. They held one another. Though he didn’t look like her Draco, he felt like him. And for what seemed a brief moment, life was blissful and free.

And then, the entire world fell apart.

**~ | * | ~**

Draco was bleeding. He’d been knocked aside by a fellow wedding guest keen on escaping, and hit his head on the edge of a table. Death Eaters were beginning to appear all around him, and when he turned to find Hermione, she was gone. Through his confusion, he barely registered the hand that grasped him by the wrist, pulling him through space with a jerk behind his navel.

Next moment, he stood in the kitchen at Grimmauld Place, with Theodore Nott’s hand still grasping his wrist. His mother burst through the door and immediately enveloped them both in a hug. Draco allowed it for a moment before shaking her off and releasing himself from Nott’s grip.

“Mother, what—”

“Theodore what—”

“Scrimgeour is dead. He summoned his Death Eaters, and it wasn’t long before they were all there.”

His mother’s eyes filled with tears and she pulled Nott into a hug again.

“Thank you for getting him out, I’m so glad you’re both safe.”

Draco felt his stomach turn at the way she spoke to them as if they were brothers.

“Why didn’t you bring Hermione with us? Or Potter for that matter! You just left them behind to be captured?”

“Oh, Draco, you’re bleeding!” Narcissa cried as Nott turned to look at Draco, his face expressionless. She began to fuss over his cut, taking out her wand and performing a Healing Charm.

“I was following orders,” Nott said.

Draco almost asked “From whom?” before realizing that this was all his mother’s doing. Of course it was. He also knew that he wouldn’t be able to leave, it was far too dangerous. Besides, he wouldn’t know where to go. Hermione had been unable to confide any of her plans with Potter and Weasley to him.

As if reading his mind, his mother said, “Ours will be the only safe house that isn’t compromised, Draco. Perhaps they will think to come here.”

He grunted by way of reply and made his way out of the kitchen, knocking into Nott’s shoulder as he went.

**~ | * | ~**

Hermione hoped with all her might as she Disapparated that Draco would indeed be at Grimmauld Place. He’d disappeared so quickly at the wedding, and she had to imagine that he’d gone to his assigned safe house, so she’d grabbed Harry and Ron and Disapparated to a random part of London. They’d quickly discovered that they weren’t safe, and after taking out the Death Eaters trailing them, made their way to the only unplottable safe house in the order.

As soon as they entered, she could feel his presence, and her heart leapt. However, it wasn’t Draco who she came face-to-face with upon entering the kitchen.

“Nott,” she said curtly.

Although he’d done the right thing in the end, she found it difficult to forgive and forget the fact that he’d put her life in even more danger than it already had been.

Nott nodded in response, and did the same when Harry and Ron entered.

“Where’s...” Hermione began, but Narcissa answered her unasked question.

“He’s upstairs, he’ll be eager to know you’re alright.”

Hermione felt her heart swell. She hadn’t been directly addressed in this way by Draco’s mother before. Truth be told, she’d been harboring some worry that the woman was disappointed by her son’s selection, but she felt that dissipate a bit.

She turned to leave, but stopped in her tracks once she heard Ron’s next words.

“Well, good, since you’re a Death Eater, Nott, then maybe you can tell us why two of your lot were able to track us immediately in Muggle London.”

Nott just stared back, but all eyes were on him. After a long moment, he spoke.

“Did you say the Dark Lord’s name?”

“What, Vol—” Harry began, but Nott started and cried out for him to stop.

“Sorry to shout, but… they’ll have activated the Taboo,” Nott said.

Hermione looked from Harry and Ron to Narcissa, who had a sudden look of comprehension dawn over her.

“That’s right, I do recall overhearing that bit of the plan.” She said it almost to herself in a whisper.

“We’ll need to alert Nymphadora. Probably best to wait a few hours, the rest will be getting interrogated.”

“Interrogated?!” Ron shouted.

Nott seemed to be restraining himself to the utmost degree.

“Yes, Weasley, they’re going to try and get as much information out of the wedding guests as possible to try and locate Potter.”

Ron turned to Harry and said, “We have to go back.”

“Like hell you do,” Draco said as he entered the kitchen, grabbing Hermione’s hand and spinning her around to kiss her full on the mouth.

Nott made a groaning sound, which was echoed equally by Harry and Ron. The three then looked awkwardly at one another, their shared discomfort uniting them for a moment in time.

“Potter,” Narcissa said, standing and striding toward him. “What’s the plan?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OoOoOoOo


	8. Year 7: Part 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WHEW, here we go, y'all!

They started at the Ministry. With Narcissa’s intricate knowledge of the place, having gone there on Malfoy family business countless times, they avoided a number of potential pitfalls with ease.

Though they had no discernable way to destroy it, the locket was theirs.

They escaped the Ministry without arousing suspicion, which was something of a miracle.

But trouble was brewing at Number 12 Grimmauld Place.

**~ | * | ~**

Hermione winced as she watched Harry grab his forehead once again, sucking in breath through his teeth and staggering backward.

“Harry, you have got to let me teach you to do Occlumency properly! It’s no good having this connection with You-Know-Who!” she cried at him.

Nott, who had been silently sitting on the side of the drawing room, spoke up.

“He relishes the connection, Granger, you’re fighting a losing battle.”

It wasn’t Harry or Ron, but Draco who drew his wand and pointed it at Nott.

“That’s quite an accusation, Nott, are you sure you aren’t talking about yourself?”

Nott took a deep breath and closed his eyes, while Harry fell to the floor, struggling with his vision, Ron and Hermione at his side.

“I am merely pointing out that you won’t get a wizard to close his mind if he doesn't want it closed. Occlumency is—”

“Yes, Nott, I understand Occlumency. I know you fancy yourself some kind of expert on the subject, but we’ve been at it just as long as you.”

Nott looked over at Harry thrashing on the floor and said, “It would seem there are some gaps in your knowledge.”

Just then, Harry came to.

“He knows Nott is alive,” Harry said, gasping for breath. “He wants him dead just as much as he wants me.”

Nott stilled, his eyes locking with Harry’s.

“Well, then, now we know two of his weaknesses.”

**~ | * | ~**

Their days in the house together became filled with research. The Order had cleaned out plenty of dark artifacts, including books, but there was still a formidable collection of them in the library.

That, and Hermione had packed every one imaginable in her beaded bag, the contents of which were now spread throughout her room.

After a private talk with Nott that Draco, Ron, and Hermione had not been privy to, Harry had consented to learn Occlumency, not to block out the visions completely, but to learn to have a choice to view them.

This resulted in many nights of both Harry and Nott becoming rather taciturn, which the others reasoned was because they had just seen one anothers memories. However, a strange bond was forming between them, and it was unclear whether their relationship was still malicious or not.

Everyone was working on their own mystery, however, so they didn’t pay this much mind. Ron was running a variety of tests on Dumbledore’s Deluminator, trying to ascertain how they could put it to use.

Draco and Hermione eventually discovered the symbol of the Deathly Hallows in _The Tales of Beedle the Bard,_ and were forming theories about the Elder Wand. Though, Hermione was insistent that they needed to stay focused on Horcruxes.

There were far too many mysteries and far too few conclusions.

Time was moving along, Muggle-borns were being imprisoned, and tensions were high.

After a visit from Tonks, they were clued into the fact that Fred, George, and Lee Jordan had begun a Wizarding Wireless show to share news, and it became a regular practice for them all to listen in.

That was how they realized that the Sword of Gryffindor was in Snape’s office, and their plan to retrieve it was born.

**~ | * | ~**

Camping was not anyone’s first choice, but it made sense to be on the grounds of the castle in order to enact their plan. Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Draco Apparated to the cave that Sirius had hidden out in, disillusioning themselves as they made their way into the Forbidden Forest. Narcissa stayed behind to be able to receive news from the Order, and while Nott wanted to come, Harry insisted he stay behind in a puzzling expression of care for the wizard.

Draco and Hermione privately theorized that the two had formed a similar connection of minds, and could communicate using Legilimency, the same way they had been able to during times of duress.

They each had other theories about what was happening between Nott and Harry, but neither voiced them.

Once they’d set up camp, they took Polyjuice in turns and set out on what was surely a far more dangerous undertaking than the Ministry trip had been.

Three days, and three abandoned attempts later, they sat in the tent trying to work through the plan.

Guessing the password at Snape’s office when they were sure he was not there (using the map) had come up empty.

Hermione’s idea to use the window, on the off chance that Snape left it open the way Dumbledore had, was equally a waste of time. Harry had flown up to it under his cloak with no luck, the windows were magically sealed.

Another attempt to simply wait outside the office and follow Snape in had turned out to be nearly disastrous, as the headmaster had sensed a presence, and began a duel with an invisible Ron, which he only escaped by utilizing the Deluminator to cause confusion.

It was the dead of winter, and while the interior of the tent was warm, one of them had to sit sentinel at the entrance each night. They sent messages back to Narcissa using Hermione’s gold coins, Harry taking the coin for himself after asking Narcissa to pass it to Nott.

He’d become rather withdrawn from them all, and communicating with Nott seemed to be the only thing that grounded him. Since they’d left Grimmauld Place, the locket Horcrux had been hanging around Harry’s neck for safe keeping, and the others were beginning to wonder whether it was affecting his mood, though he wouldn’t hear a word of it.

The appearance of the silver doe outside the tent one evening was the event that changed everything.

**~ | * | ~**

_ “I have seen your dreams, Harry Potter, and I have seen your fears. All you desire is possible, but all that you dread is also possible.” _

Ghostly forms of both Ginny and Theo had emerged from the locket, along with a young Tom Riddle, the same as from the diary.

_“Him?”_ Riddle Ginny said, looking at Riddle Theo. _“I will never forgive you for this.”_

Riddle Theo turned to Riddle Ginny and said, _“You won’t have a need to, we won’t survive his wake.”_

Then, the young Tom Riddle slashed his wand through the air, and blood burst from Ginny and Theo’s eyes, as their forms were torn apart by magic.

It took Draco, Ron, and Hermione grabbing the hilt of the sword while it remained in Harry’s hand, and thrusting it into the eye of the locket before the deed was done.

**~ | * | ~**

The vanquishing of a Horcrux created a celebratory mood for a good period of time. There were a few wonderful days of relaxation and Firewhiskey back at Grimmauld Place.

“Constant vigilance!” Moody’s favorite line echoed through their minds, and they knew it couldn’t last. Their journey to speak to Xenophilius Lovegood was one they’d embarked upon thinking it would be a casual jaunt in comparison to the sword quest, and it turned out to be far closer to disaster than any of them had predicted.

Then, the loss of Harry’s wand in Godric’s Hollow was the next major blow that seemed to send him back into a dark state of obsession that only Nott could pull him out of.

He was back to obsessing over the Hallows, and Draco, Ron, and Hermione took it upon themselves to continue staying focused on Horcruxes.

“Do you think they’re in love?” Ron asked one night as the three of them were each reading through books on the founders.

Hermione looked up from the Ravenclaw biography with pursed lips. “I honestly don’t know what they are.”

Draco hadn’t looked up from the Hufflepuff book, but was clearly listening. They hadn’t talked about it, but it was certainly the Hippogriff in the room.

“It’s like, they’ve been magically bonded or something, you know?”

Hermione glanced over at Draco, who was eyeing her in a very particular way.

“Yes,” she said, without releasing eye contact.

Ron looked between them and then said, “Oh… is that how it was for you two, then?”

Draco shifted his gaze to Ron and said, “Something like that.”

Hermione was smiling now, regarding Draco with some amusement. “He felt that way about me long before I felt it for him,” she said.

“Well, that’s obvious,” Ron said, rolling his eyes and glancing back at his book with a chuckle.

At this, Draco slammed his book down. “Are we really going to compare a years-long developing relationship starting in childhood, to whatever convoluted mess Nott and Potter have gotten themselves into?”

“Well,” Ron said, “there seem to be a number of similarities, and not for nothing, Hermione and I had a years-long developing relationship too, but yours won out over it in the end. I’m just curious as to how it happens.”

“Is that an accusation?” Draco shot back.

Ron rolled his eyes, and said to Hermione, “D’you reckon he’ll ever get that I trust him?”

She grinned and said, “If my relationship with him is any estimation, you have a few more years before he’s going to accept it, Ron.”

Draco scoffed and returned to his book, lounging back in his chair as Hermione and Ron exchanged another amused glance.

Later that evening was when Hermione brought the idea of the Lost Diadem to Harry.

It was also the evening when Harry remembered a dusty old crown on a bust of an old wizard in the Room of Requirement.

Their return to the Forbidden Forest started out similarly to the first trip, but became wholly different within minutes when a gang of Snatchers appeared as if they’d been waiting for them.

**~ | * | ~**

Hermione was screaming, and Draco was losing his mind. They were trapped in the basement of Nott Manor, and Hermione was being tortured a floor above for her possession of Gryffindor’s sword.

The fact that they had the sword at all had halted all plans to summon Voldemort to the scene, and his aunt had looked at him like he was her next meal, but wanted to save him for later.

“Did you send the message, Potter?” he growled at Harry.

“I’m trying,” Harry snapped back. He’d managed to keep his coin, but not his wand, which wasn’t his at all, but one Narcissa had lent him for the journey.

Merlin knew whether anyone upstairs would notice that fact.

Hermione’s scream filled Draco’s mind as terror for both of the women he loved most in the world threatened to overcome him.

He could hear Luna Lovegood and Mr. Ollivander, fellow prisoners, speaking quietly to Potter and offering instruction on wandless magic, but his vision was beginning to blur from the feeling of powerlessness.

It wasn’t until the crack of Apparation sounded and Kreacher the House-elf appeared that Draco’s vision righted itself.

They were going to get out of this alive. All of them.

**~ | * | ~**

Hermione was nearly passed out on the floor of the drawing room in Nott Manor, having been tortured for some indiscernible length of time. The word Mudblood was shining red on her forearm, and she ascertained that Bellatrix had moved on to torturing the goblin for information before she slipped out of full consciousness.

She came to for a moment and registered that Kreacher the House-elf was there. Someone picked her up off the floor and hoisted her over their shoulder.

She saw Theodore Nott’s face, then saw Harry take his wand from him, saying something about not letting him become a killer.

And then they were gone, and the last thing she saw was the blade of Bellatrix’s knife flying towards them as they Apparated away, missing them by a split second.

**~ | * | ~**

Grimmauld Place became rather crowded, and the Order quickly created a plan to have Luna and Mr. Ollivander moved to another safe house.

Before they left, however, Harry insisted on a meeting with the wandmaker. Nott went along.

Draco and Ron attended to Hermione, the former with a far more desperate energy, and a desire to see her well immediately. Narcissa was able to assuage some of his panic by telling him that she knew of a number of effective treatments for the Cruciatus Curse.

The cursed cuts, however, would scar no matter what.

Draco slept next to her each night, regardless of his mother’s wishes, and woke any time she did. One dawn found him hunched over her, stroking the scars on her arm and whispering, “I’m so sorry,” over and over, as his own tears fell across her skin. She slept soundly through it all.

**~ | * | ~**

Narcissa had nearly convinced them that she should go to Gringotts as her sister, but Hermione won out in the end.

It felt personal to both of them, of course, but the older witch could not claim to be battle ready as well as any of the others.

Though, shortly, she would not have a choice.

**~ | * | ~**

They got the cup, as well as their first ever dragon ride.

**~ | * | ~**

Retrieving the diadem from the Room of Requirement was something Nott insisted upon taking part in. He and Draco had gone with Harry, while Hermione and Ron went to the Chamber of Secrets to retrieve Basilisk fangs, as the goblin had run off with the sword.

Nott and Draco stood face-to-face with Crabbe and Goyle.

There was no contest. They fell before the Fiendfyre spell they were trying could even be cast.

**~ | * | ~**

The battle had commenced, and after Ron and Hermione returned with the Horcrux-killing, venom-filled fangs, there was only the snake left.

Draco and Hermione dueled side by side. The shock of seeing the youngest Malfoy, for most of the Death Eaters, caused enough of a delay for he and Hermione to succeed in each instance as though they had taken Felix Felicis.

Ron reunited with Percy, and together they stopped a Killing Curse from hitting either of their twin brothers.

Ginny was fighting alongside Neville, and Hermione caught sight of their joined hands in a brief moment, hardly having time to register it.

It took them all a while to realize that Harry and Nott had disappeared.

**~ | * | ~**

“Harry Potter is dead.”

That was their reality for some indiscernible amount of time, until it was not.

The battle recommenced, and now it was as though the entire group of them had taken Felix. No Death Eater spells could hit their mark.

Molly Weasley struck down Bellatrix.

Professor McGonagall did away with the Carrows, who had been terrorizing the school all year.

Narcissa Malfoy came face-to-face with her husband, and in her moment of hesitation he raised his wand, but Hermione was faster. Stunned and bound, Draco moved his father to one side, content in the idea that he could face trial and sentencing, because to simply die in battle was too good an ending for the man. Narcissa wept as they battled on.

Finally, Harry removed his cloak and stood face-to-face with the man that he must kill or be killed by.

They circled one another, and Harry astonished the entire crowd with his words, revealing secrets about Tom Riddle that no one ever knew.

He had died for all of them, and they all had his protection as a result.

Because love wins. Every time.

And then, the most evil wizard who ever lived was finally gone.

**~ | * | ~**

Nott was the first to embrace Harry, first kissing the scar on his forehead before collapsing into him. Everyone else crowded around them, not noticing or questioning their pairing.

Hermione sobbed tears of joy into Draco’s chest, and he pulled her back so that he could kiss her, out in the open in front of everyone.

He found his cheeks wet as well, and saw that his mother was the same way, though hers now had joy mixed in.

As things in the remains of the Entrance Hall quieted down, Luna approached Hermione.

“Have you been with Draco for long?”

Hermione stared back for a moment before laughing. “Yes, actually,” she said, glancing over at him where he stood comforting his mother. “Yes, we’ve been together for quite some time actually.”

Luna smiled back knowingly. “I’m glad you found each other then.”

Hermione returned the smile, “So am I. He… he saved my life.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Epilogue next week. xoxo


	9. 19 Years Later

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Special thanks to Christine Sachs for being my accountability partner and helping me get to a place where I can write a new chapter every single week without fail.
> 
> Second special thanks to littletheorist for beta-ing this and a few of my other fics, you are a gem, M!

Lilian Silver walked down the cobblestone streets of Diagon Alley, hardly recognizing the place, as she’d been in the states since the second war. She wore her jet black hair stick straight, her fringe cut so neatly and severely that it could be called aggressive.

Her faux snakeskin handbag looked genuine, and she stepped with a confidence that made heads turn and necks bend in her direction. When she came upon the storefront of the bookshop that matched her nephew’s description, she reached for the door, only to be intercepted by a hand belonging to a dark-haired man.

“Aunt Lil,” Theo said, stepping in front of her and pulling the door open so that she could enter ahead of him. “Please, after you.”

She took him in. He looked healthy. Happy, even. So much more so than she’d expected.

Once they were in and seated in the small cafe area up front, she exhaled sharply and said, “I owe you an apology.”

~ | * | ~

His aunt’s American accent felt strange to his ears, as he’d only read letters from her for so long and hadn’t seen her in person since his birthday, the summer before his second year. That’d been the day his father had mysteriously disappeared for a large part of the celebration, returning with a task for him. He shuddered at the memory before refocusing on his aunt.

“I didn’t want to say this to you in a letter, it felt too impersonal, but I’m so sorry for how long I was out of touch.”

Theo blinked back at her, noticing that he wasn’t now nor had he ever been resentful of the woman. She’d never gotten on with his father, had had no interest in death eater affairs, and had been vying for a position with MACUSA since he could remember.

Staying away from his family seemed a smart move, and he didn’t fault her for it one bit.

He simply smiled back at her. “You were always my favourite auntie, and that remains true to this day. I’m only glad you avoided getting caught up in the mess.”

She swallowed, choking back some emotion. “Yes, but, I feel like I could have done something. Anything. Truth be told, I was considering taking you back to the states with me on your twelfth birthday.”

Theo’s eyes widened, but the witch before him didn’t see, as she had begun to stare off into the distance.

“There were too many details I hadn’t sorted out yet, and by the time I had, your father refused all contact from me.”

Heart swelling at the idea that someone in his life had cared that much about his well being, Theo reached forward and put a hand over hers where it rested on her knee. She turned to look at him with watery eyes.

“I secured you a place at Ilvermorny. A new identity. You were always such a good boy, I just couldn’t fathom-” she said, before a swell of emotion caused her voice to break.

“Aunt Lil,” he said, and then had to repeat it twice before she regained composure.

“My life has worked out perfectly,” he said, in a matter-of-fact tone that seemed to fill her with relief. She let out a single laugh, wiping at her wet cheeks. He pulled out an embroidered handkerchief and passed it to her.

After she’d finished with it, she looked down at the material, unfolding it and running a thumb over the stitched lettering. It read “T.N. & H.P.”

“From our wedding day,” he said. “I considered taking his name, but I thought it best to reclaim my own rather than run from it.”

She let out a half-hearted laugh and said, “You’re better than I am,” as she continued to stare down at the handkerchief.

Abruptly, he pulled it from her grasp. “This is nonsense, you’re beating yourself up over something that happened decades ago. Would you not prefer to meet your grandniece?”

Looking up with her mouth agape, she said, “I thought the children had left for Hogwarts?”

“Just the boys, actually. She’s still not of age. Harry is with her at Fortescue’s up the road,” he said, standing and offering her his hand. With a deeply grateful grin, she took it.

~ | * | ~

“Uncle Draco, do you think Scorpius will be in Gryffindor?” the little girl said.

A sly smile crossed Draco’s face as he turned to her and said, “I’m putting my galleons on Ravenclaw, if I’m being honest. He always wants to differentiate himself from his parents.”

“Funny,” Hermione said, “I was thinking Hufflepuff.”

“What?! Not my son.”

“Oh, but you truthfully consider Ravenclaw a better option than either of our houses?”

“Who said better? No one said better,” Draco said, then turning back to his niece. “All of the houses are equally good for their own reasons, and don’t let your auntie tell you differently, alright?”

“Alright Uncle Draco!” the little girl sang while Hermione rolled her eyes and crossed her arms, a wry smile on her face.

Harry arrived at the table with an ice cream sundae, just as Theo walked in the door, followed by a woman they all knew would be his aunt Lilian.

As they reached the table, Theo said, “Everyone, this is my auntie Lil, Auntie Lil, this is-”

“Hermione Granger, Draco Malfoy, and Harry Potter? Do you know what? I’ve heard of them.”

Theo smirked and everyone chuckled good-naturedly as Lilian went around the table shaking hands.

“And who is this?” she said, squatting down next to the little girl.

“I’m Lily, nice to meet you,” she said, holding out a small hand.

Lilian took it, while gazing up at Theo, her mouth agape, but it was Harry who spoke next.

“Lily, do you remember why we gave you your name?”

As if reciting the alphabet, she said, “Because both of my daddys had a special Lily in their lives and I get to be both of their namescapes!”

Theo chuckled, reaching forward to graze little Lily’s cheek. “Namesake, darling, not namescape.”

“That’s what I said!” Lily cried, before picking up her spoon and shoveling strawberry ice cream into her mouth.

“Well, we have to be going,” Hermione said, standing. “Tea with my mother-in-law. She insisted on seeing us after Scorpius left for school. I think she intends to swap the tea for hard liquor and to be honest, I may not object.”

Draco stood as well, raising his eyebrows. “Well, Potters, you heard the lady.”

Theo rolled his eyes at the use of his husband’s surname to refer to the both of them, but he was used to it by now.

“Lilian, it was so wonderful to meet you,” Hermione said. “Will you be long in England? I would love to have a lunch date and pick your brain about magical creature regulations in America.”

Behind her back, all three men made “don’t do it” motions. Still entranced by the fact that she shared a name with her grandniece, Lilian smiled and said, “that would be lovely. I’m staying the week.”

Harry, Theo, and Draco all looked defeated as the women exchanged contact information.

As Draco and Hermione were leaving, Harry called out to them. “Don’t forget, we’re meeting Ron and Ginny and everyone for drinks at the Leaky tonight.”

“If she’s still standing, Potter, we’ll see you there.”

Hermione slapped his arm and said, “Oh, rude! You know I never overindulge.”

“Yes but darling, we just lost our only child-”

“We didn’t lose anything, he’s just a portkey away!”

“Not if you can’t manage walking.”

“Ugh, you’re impossible. You know...”

Their voices faded as they exited the shop, and everyone else sat down around Lily who was still diligently working her way through the huge sundae, which had been promised to her as a consolation for not boarding the Hogwarts express.

“They’re always fighting,” Lily observed.

“That’s not fighting, that’s just how they talk,” Theo said.

“But you and daddy don’t talk like that.”

Theo grinned over at Harry. “No, we don’t,” he said, his eyes wistful. “But we did once, and actually, I think that could be counted as real fighting, don’t you, darling?” As he said this, he traced a hand over his chest, where his sectumsempra scars lay beneath the fabric.

Harry squinted and shook his head as if to say, “not in front of the kid.”

Lilian smirked. “There’s a story I would love to hear at some future point with… present company excluded?”

“Oh, now that’ll be fun,” Theo said. “You should know, though, that Rita Skeeter has been dying to get her hands on it for years, so you’ll be carrying some rather sensitive information.”

Lilian smirked. “Well, I think my decades of operating exclusively undercover will aid in my ability to keep the secrets.”

“What secrets?! I wanna know!” Lily whined.

“One day, when you’re older,” Harry said, placing a consoling hand on her shoulder.

“Awwww,” she said, now moving her spoon through a puddle of soupy ice cream. “Everything is when I’m older.”

“Oh, the years will pass before you know it,” Lilian said. “And what do you want to be when you grow up?”

At this, Lily’s eyes brightened and with exuberance she proclaimed, “An auror! That's what you do, right auntie Lily?”

Lilian’s jaw clenched as she fought back some emotion, but Theo came to her rescue.

“Yes she does. Your auntie is a senior auror with MACUSA. She’s very important.”

“Wowwww,” Lily said, causing everyone to grin widely.

“Perhaps one day soon, we can take a trip to the states and get a tour of where your auntie works,” Harry said.

“Oh yes, please! Let’s do that!” Lilian said.

“Can we?!” Lily squeaked.

Theo smiled serenely at his aunt and said, “Yes, that would be wonderful.”

~ | * | ~

Later that evening, after copious drinks, Draco and Hermione were getting ready for bed in their sizable London flat.

As she removed her earrings, Hermione said, “Ginny is taking this all rather well, don’t you think? Not only her daughter, but Neville going back to work at Hogwarts. I truly thought she’d relocate to Hogsmeade.”

From the closet, Draco called back, “She’s far too headstrong and committed to her job, like some other witch I know.”

Hermione laughed, and moved on to magically removing her makeup, too tired to bother with actual washing.

“I still can’t believe Ron and Pansy are dating. After all these years and both of their divorces,” she said.

Draco finished putting away his tie and came to stand behind her at her vanity table. “Yes, well,” he said, directly into her ear, causing shivers up her spine, “not everyone finds love at twelve years old.”

“Thirteen, I’m older than you, remember?”

“Ah, just what a woman wants, to be reminded of her old age. Is that the lesson I’m to take from that comment?”

“I’ll show you a lesson,” she said, advancing on him menacingly. Grasping the loosened collar of his gray button down, she pulled his lips roughly to hers. When she bit his lower lip hard enough to draw blood, he groaned an objection.

“It’s to be that kind of evening, then?” he managed to say between kisses.

“You said I wouldn’t be able to stand, now you need to make it so.”

As if her words had been an incantation, he picked her up and spun around to toss her onto the bed. “Gladly,” he said, moving toward the bed with the same sort of menacing look she’d worn only moments ago.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading, I truly look forward to all of your comments!
> 
> I am spending the month of December writing a ~10k word one-shot that I will post on New Year's Eve. I have never written an entire story of that length without posting SOME of it, and I'm interested in developing the ability to nurture and complete a story without having your feedback and encouragement every week. Just wanna see if I can do it :)
> 
> I'm sure I'll post updates about how the writing is going in my insta stories every Friday, if you wanna follow along, though @michelleakin21
> 
> Thanks again for reading!!!! I love all of you very much <3

**Author's Note:**

> Beta love to littletheorist!! https://archiveofourown.org/users/littletheorist/works


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